Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is a mental health condition that can develop in individuals who have experienced or witnessed a traumatic event. Traumatic events that can lead to PTSD include but are not limited to, serious accidents, physical or sexual assault, natural disasters, combat, or life-threatening situations. PTSD is characterized by a range of symptoms that can significantly impact a person’s daily life and well-being.
I am safe. I have spoken out. My healing is progressing. Now it’s time to focus on my life, my growth, and my well-being. Step 1: Maintain Trauma-Informed Support Step 2: Recalibrate my Nervous System Step 3: Reclaim my Identity Step 4: Set and Enforce Boundaries Step 5: Integrate my Trauma Step 6: Educate and Empower… Read More Next Chapter: A Step-by-Step Guide
Common psychological phenomenon in families of abuse survivors, and it has both neuroscientific and social-psychological dimensions. Here’s a clear breakdown: 1. Minimization and Denial by Family Members Even if there’s a documented history of serious abuse (e.g., previous wife harmed), they may ignore or dismiss it because acknowledging it would require action or confronting uncomfortable truths.… Read More Minimization and Denial by Family Members
1. What the Scores Indicate 2. Neuroscience Perspective 3. Psychological Perspective 4. Implications for Safety and Intervention Key Takeaway: A DASH score of 21/27 and high-risk MARAC classification reflects serious, multi-faceted risk. Neuroscience shows that victims’ brains are in a chronic stress state, while perpetrators are neurologically and psychologically primed for escalation. Immediate, coordinated intervention is essential to… Read More Understanding High DASH Scores and MARAC High-Risk Classification
Discovering that someone close to you has a deeply troubling or criminal past, especially involving exploitation or abuse, can be profoundly destabilizing. Seeking help and therapy afterward is critical for processing trauma, reclaiming a sense of safety, and rebuilding your life. Here’s a structured guide: 1. Acknowledge Your Emotional Reality 2. Seek Professional Support 3. Create… Read More Seek Professional Support
How EMDR and Somatic Therapies Facilitate Neural Recalibration Trauma leaves lasting imprints on neural circuits responsible for threat detection, emotional regulation, and self-reference. EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) and somatic therapies (body-focused approaches) specifically target these disrupted networks, promoting neuroplasticity and functional recovery. 1. EMDR: Processing Trauma Through Bilateral Stimulation Mechanism: Neuroscience effects: Clinical… Read More Neuroscience of EMDR and Somatic Therapies in Trauma Recovery
IntroductionIndividuals with a history of abuse frequently report difficulty determining what is “right” or “healthy” in relationships. This is not a matter of poor judgment or weakness; it is the predictable neurobiological and psychological result of prolonged trauma exposure. Abuse alters threat-processing systems, attachment circuits, and self-referential networks in the brain, which collectively distort the… Read More How Trauma Disrupts the Ability to Identify What Is Healthy
A Neuroscience & Epigenetics Explanation When a father is abusive — emotionally, physically, verbally, or psychologically — the damage does not stop with him. Modern neuroscience and epigenetics now confirm that trauma is inherited, not only through behaviour but also through biology. Children do not simply “grow out of it.”Generations absorb it. 1. The Child’s Brain… Read More How Abusive Fathers Impact Their Children and Grandchildren:
When people ask, “Why aren’t you in a new relationship yet?” they rarely understand the full picture.For survivors of domestic abuse, “moving on” isn’t a simple emotional choice — it is a psychological, neurological, and legal process that cannot unfold while the ex-partner is still exerting practical or symbolic control. Here is the science and lived reality… Read More Why Trauma Survivors Can’t “Move On” While an Abusive Ex Still Controls the Environment: A Neuroscience and Legal Reality Check
A Legal and Safeguarding Briefing** For Courts, Social Services, Safeguarding Officers, and Legal Representatives Summary:Long-term exposure to coercive control, emotional deprivation, and relational intimidation produces well-documented neurological effects. These are not subjective experiences. They are measurable injuries that impact cognition, memory consistency, and threat appraisal — all of which are directly relevant to legal credibility,… Read More Hippocampal Atrophy and Chronic Coercive Control:
Professional Summary for Therapists, Advocates, and Educators Long-term interpersonal trauma—particularly coercive control, emotional deprivation, chronic unpredictability, and relational threat—produces well-documented neurobiological changes. These changes are not metaphorical. They are structural, functional, and measurable. One of the most clinically significant is hippocampal shrinkage. 1. Neurobiological Impact: What the Evidence Shows Hippocampal Atrophy Research spanning two decades (Bremner,… Read More Hippocampal Atrophy in Chronic Domestic Abuse: Clinical Implications and Recovery Pathways
